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Thread: Just another Turbo/Drift E36 Build

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i

    Just another Turbo/Drift E36 Build

    Hey Everyone!

    First time posting on the forum. We are currently building somewhat of an oddball E36 turbo setup. This will end up as a dedicated drift car but we arent really following the standard rules so to speak. Some parts were bought on sale and some were just pure "I want it and I need it now!" anxiety buys which had to be then redesigned and "engineered" (fixed) around due to my personal stupidity. Either I hope you enjoy.

    The parts list thus far:
    New Holset HX35
    An ebay knock off SPA manifold
    Custom Downpipe.
    Mishimoto radiator
    New Used engine due to the last poorly maintained one busting at 219K (previous owner)
    SLR Full angle Kit (on the way)
    Dual Caliper hydro setup (needs to be installed)
    BC BR Coils


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    indianapolis
    Posts
    49
    My Cars
    1995 318i convt.
    Sweet! Im about to start my build thread tonight lol

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    358
    My Cars
    E92, E46, E36
    Any updates?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    UPDATE: Sorry been busy with classes and work. ATM we have the car striped back down to a bare M50 stock block, Right before Winter Jam at Sonoma Raceway here in California. New SLR Speed Full angle Kit installed (pictures attached). The rear end has been taken out for sub-frame reinforcements, Nameless Hydraulic brake and BDC twin caliper setup is also going on. Turns out the M3 axles we bought were completely destroyed but that's manageable.
    20181101_152401.jpg
    custom Downpipe made by Kyle over at LoDynamics
    IMG_20190106_100019.jpg
    car shipped up to local shop
    IMG_20181215_141117.jpg
    After SLR Kit install.
    IMG_20181215_103743.jpg
    more angle goodness.
    Fuel pump and gauges have arrived along. Went with AEM Wideband, Auto Meter Boost gauge, Longacre Oil pressure and Water temp.
    More boost parts will trickle in slowly. Glad to see everyone checking us out. That's the update so far.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Seoul, phoenix, missoula
    Posts
    179
    My Cars
    galant vr4 S13
    she's gonna be a blast to skid

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    We sure hope so

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    Turbo smart BOV and wastegate, Cut-ring with spacer, ARP studs, all the oiling and oil cooling supplies have been ordered and or arrived. Hopefully will be done in 2 months time. I will start posting more often to keep this thread rolling, since we will have the engine apart.
    Last edited by SZRDrift; 02-20-2021 at 09:13 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Location
    newyork
    Posts
    1
    My Cars
    1998 e36 coupe
    dope build also have a e36 ...thinking about dropping a hx on it as well just not sure if i want to keep the bmw heart or do a 1jz setup

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    25,402
    My Cars
    F90 M5; E36 M3 Turbo
    1jz might be a downgrade.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    philadelphia PA
    Posts
    461
    My Cars
    1993 325is
    Quote Originally Posted by pbonsalb View Post
    1jz might be a downgrade.
    Will be a downgrade for sure

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i

    Post A major update to a long lost thread. Sorry I always forget about this stuff.

    Alright guys and gals I guess its time for another irregular update on this build. I keep forgetting that I started a thread for this car and I apologize to those that have been looking forward to finding out what happens to it.

    Recap: we got some more boost parts ie. cut-ring HG and all that jazz and took apart the stock engine because it got water inside it(long story). After that we pulled the engine at my friends house and shipped the chassis up for a cage by Dead Fab in Sacramento. After getting the car back and running out of money (gotta love being a college student) we stored the car and inspected the engine that we pulled. That engine destroyed a cam and all of cylinder 4 was toast (sorry I forgot to take pictures). Seeing that we wanted to go boost I sought out to find another blown motor to rebuild, focusing mainly on M52's since they have better sensors for stock ECU tuning.

    Update: Now that we had found an engine (pictured below), we had to find space to do a full swap and throw more money at making it run. Originally the plan was to stick with the IWG that we had ported and we did. Once the funds were saved up and a realization that we simply did not have the time or space to do all this work (this'll be ironic if you keep reading this thread) hit, we set out to find a shop to do the swap into the car along with some suspension stuff.
    IMG_20200210_083344_730.jpg
    One of our other friends had recently opened a shop and we had been hearing great things about his work. Entrusting all of our stuff (literally dumping all of our needs onto his shoulders) we set him off with a chassis, and engine + trans and a whole lot of other stuff to piece together a complete car, with the understanding that I had to get a few things done to get it running. Thank you a ton to Repairin' Aaron. His work helped us get on track for the first time
    IMG_20200217_190002.jpg sorry about the turned photo's I'll attach an imgur or something to help consolidate all the media and some extra stuff.
    IMG_20200225_225905_01.jpg
    Shelf full of all our stuff
    IMG_20200305_115855_01.jpg
    engine installed
    IMG_20200319_175530_671__01.jpg
    rear end with bushings and dual calipers all setup

    Next post will cover intercooler fab and getting the car back.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i

    Post Wheels, Overs and Fabwork

    While at the shop we had the onsite fabricator make the intercooler piping, intercooler mount, and weld the turbosmart BOV on.
    IMG_20200327_154931_01.jpgIMG_20200407_144547_02.jpg IMG_20200407_133620_01__01__01.jpg
    Since all the important stuff was taken care of, we were left with finishing the wiring conversion from M50 chassis to M52 Engine harnesses. This took us a couple hours and we were up and running. Since we were now operational that meant tuning was now a necessity and for that we were directed to Mark D'Sylva for that. As we initiated out talks more work on the car were completed. Finally we could run our new F1R wheels, and start setting up the interior to how we liked it. Around this same time our friend and local pro-am drifter came by to donate some overfenders since his program was moving to another brand. These were a little rough but nothing we couldn't take care of. They were redone with some fiberglass and carbon and a fresh coat of black paint.
    2579626_2579626-R1-040-18A__01.jpg02A0219.jpg
    Now the car was together and we could mainly focus on tuning.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    Before hitting the dyno we ran the car twice at a local event just to make sure everything was working well together. All aspects of the tune stayed within spec so we headed off to really dial in the car on the dyno. We were recommended to a local mustang dyno where after a few hours the car put down 370whp on a bad cylinder. Turns out 23 psi, stock ring gaps and doing that 20 times doesn't really work out too well. Well that meant it was time to pull the motor and actually take care of all the things that went wrong.
    Max's first BMW Debut (30 of 30).jpgScreenshot_20200827-105059__01.jpg
    event photos taken by Harry Chriest or @harry_chriest34

    IMG_20200919_122504.jpg
    Since we usually don't have a space to work on the car unless its small quick stuff we thought we were stuck with another blown motor for a while. Luckily our friend @driftergonewild offered for us to use his shop while he was gone. Within the month we pulled the engine and found what was salvageable or not, found a doner engine (which was supposed to be 2.8 but ended up being a 2.5), and in the last 3 days went from bare block to fully assembled and running in the car. The new engine consists of .022 and .025 gapped piston rings on 2.5 pistons and a 2.8 bottom end, the CES motorsport copper spacer and cut-ring headgasket, ARP headstuds.
    IMG_20201011_214948_010.jpg
    Just because the car was "done" or in a running condition did not excuse it form future work. After spending hours looking at external wastegates and figuring out how we could afford one reasonably (remember college student budget) we decided to "risk" it on a VS Racing 50mm wastegate. We had read a lot of the drag guys and budget build guys were having no issues with them so we decided to find out for ourselves.

    About the VSR 50mm: This valve is an ebay style knockoff, much like all the other valves you will read about it has a chance of coming with bad diaphragms and metal shavings and usually a worse guide. When we opened ours up we did find a ton of metal shavings from the machining process and that the diaphragm was not fully seated. After a quick clean and removal of the extra (7 psi) spring tested the gate and found it working as expected. From the research done before we knew that this valve would either be a complete dud, but most likely fine and just dirty/needing some minor work. Since then we have been running the valve for the last 2 events after the rebuild we have yet to see an issue with it and it works as needed. We will keep you guys posted if the valve starts going bad and why.
    IMG_20201117_140737.jpg
    Originally we thought we could position the valve somewhere on the flipped manifold riser tube that our turbo sits on but that was not the case. The solution to this problem was water jetting the side of the housing (nothing else could get through it) and welding on the WG on the turbo. I know this build is unorthodox and consists of many things that could be done differently, for those who have questions as to why somethings are done over others or why certain parts are bought over others. The answer is simple. This is a car built between two people, my girlfriend and I, we are both in college and it has taken every spare dime we've had to even get it here. We hope you find as much enjoyment in our shared projected as we have.

    The next post will cover some recent events and hopes with the car as well as future updates (hopefully we'll get better at updating this thread).
    Last edited by SZRDrift; 02-20-2021 at 09:19 PM.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    Alright! Semi up to date now. The car has had the rebuilt motor and wastegate setup for two events this year (2021) and has been running great. As of a week ago on Feb 13th we ran the car at Good Luck League practice day. Car ran great until it popped a lower radiator hose off, luckily the hose was fine and we managed to reinstall it quickly, threw in some water wetter and water and got back on track. We ran all track day with no issues aside from that. During this time we tested some Cosmo MuchoMacho tires set to 20psi with great success. We also noticed the wheels were getting caught on the SLR angle kit when at full lock so we will need to address that.
    GLL P (20 of 34).jpg
    Considering we are used to battling some cooling issues it was nice to have a problem free day of drifting. It usually is the lack of airflow in the front when the bumper is on so we will need to see what kind of ducting work and fan setups we can look into. That being said the current setup is a mishimoto rad, e-fan, stock t-stat and pump. We might go CSF or Koyorad down the line but depending on what is causing it. There is lots of mixed reviews on Mishimoto but so far it doesn't seem like the issue but we could be wrong.
    GLL P (33 of 34).jpg
    Also on a side note the car magically ended up touching a k-rail, dunno how it happened but tube rear soon. Also we are tired of breathing fumes from the open downpipe so exhaust is also going on.
    GLL P (30 of 34).jpgIMG_20200823_090835_435.jpg
    Oops haha. Also we included the old dyno graph when we blew the engine on the dyno. We think the car is closer to 430ish whp but we will know after tubing the rear. We are also waiting on receiving our Vader Solutions PCV oil cap vent which is coming soon. Post any questions about the build and we will try to do our best to answer them.
    Last edited by SZRDrift; 02-22-2021 at 12:47 AM.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    Small Update, Vader Solutions cap came in after 3 months of waiting due to shipping and manufacturing delays. 3" exhaust has been installed, New 3" belts are in, New Garagistic seat mounts and OMP Seat for my GF are in and ready for install. Hoping to be back on track soon!
    _02A0740.jpg

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Silver Spring, Maryland
    Posts
    176
    My Cars
    1990 325i
    Any concerns with oil vapor still floating around the engine bay under load so close to the turbo?

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    I am actually planning on reworking the whole setup soon, but I have yet to have any fire filled fun yet. That being said I wouldn't recommend doing my setup to anyone, if you had a normal top mount manifold it wouldnt be much concern and to be fair this car is driven with the hood open/off for the most part. That being said even when I have the hood on it does have a massive hole in it.

    _02A0570.jpg

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    1994 E36 325i
    This project hit a wall after I entered University. The car has been sitting in storage, with hope maybe we can get the basic tubed rear done, and hit at least one event.

    I am finding a rather weird issue with the intercooler being caked with oil, I am assuming the lines are leaking on the oil cooler but havent had time to take a look at it just yet. Thanks for those who have come by and checked out this build over the months/years, sorry for a lack of updates. No plans of getting rid of the car, life is just slow at the moment.

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